Q: Hey, it's Marie Forleo and you are watching MarieTV- business and life advice that works.

Today's question comes from Sidsel and Sidsel writes:

Hi Marie! I'm finding that it takes forever to write my newsletters. I know that I should

be sharing content and connecting with my audience but there's just so much else to

do. Any advice you can share on how to write faster?

A: Sidsel, awesome question! Sidsel, first let me say that everybody I know struggles

with this very issue, especially when you are first starting out. When I started my

business and I had to write a lot of content sometimes it would take me two to three days

to get out one good article so I totally know how you feel. And even to this day, I'm still

looking for ways to write faster. The truth is, creating high quality content does take

some time but the good news is I've got eight great strategies to help you create high quality

content even faster.

#1. Flip your script. If you want to change anything in your life, you first have to take

look at your internal script. What are you saying to yourself? What's the story you're

telling yourself about the thing you want to change. So, for example, if you are telling

yourself, “I'm a really slow writer and it takes me forever to write my newsletters,”

well guess what? You will be a really be a slow writer and it will take you forever to

write your newsletters. Your subconscious mind is a powerful little biatch and let me

tell you, you want her on your side. "B*tch you slow!" Baby, let's flip that script! "Mama,

you so fast!" Uhum... So before you do anything else, flip your internal script.

#2. Is begin with the end in mind. You want to think about your end result. What is the

thing that you want your reader to walk away with? What action, if any, do you want them

to take? Then you have to reverse-engineer your content to get them there. For example,

as I was creating the answer to this very question, I asked myself, “What do I want

you to walk away with after this video?” And my answer? A highly actionable list of

things that will help you write faster and a video that you'd want to share with your

friends.

#3. Keep a topic list. Now tell the truth, you waste a ton of time trying to figure out

what you should write about in the first place. Here's the fix: Keep a running topic list

of all your ideas. So, for example, if you get inspired by magazine articles or interviews

or anything you watched on TV, write it down. Or something really good that really works

for me is questions that people ask you all the time, great fodder for content. So you

can use a notebook or you can use Google Docs or you can use Evernote which is amazing.

Or you can even use your iPhone and get little Miss Siri to help you out. Siri, remind me

to write an article about Evernote.

Siri: Marie, you should be focused on making videos, not creating content.

#4. Make it short and sweet. Remember that high quality content does not mean long a**

content. Sometimes the best way to serve your audience is to make it short and sweet. Remember,

nobody's not gonna read your content because it is too short so try just sharing one tip

or one idea.

#5. Plan it out. Create an editorial calendar for your content. So you want to spend about

1-2 hours planning out your content for the next three to six months. This takes the decision

out of what you are going to write about each week and it just plans everything out for

you so when it's time to write, you just go to your plan, you follow your plan and you're

done. And as you are writing your content, you don't have to wonder, “Should I include

this whole section here, or should I save it for another post?” You can just go to

your editorial calendar and you'll say, Oh! This idea's gonna be great for July 5th.

#6. And this is a biggy... Don't write and edit at the same thing. Get everything out

and don't edit as you go because it only slows you down. So, for example, if you are writing

and you think of better way to say something, don't delete what you just wrote. Just stop,

write the sentence the new way and keep going. This frees you up from making it perfect the

first time and allows you to just get everything out. Editing is usually much faster process

when you have a lot of content on a page.

#7. Remember Mr. P's Law. That would be Mr. Parkinson and he says, “The amount of time

one has to perform a task is the amount of time it will take to complete the task.”

Another way to say it is work expands the time allotted so give yourself a time limit.

Now Mr. Tony Robbins kicked my ass on this topic and I wrote a whole article about it

and you can check it out in the link below.

#8. Be the vessel and not the source. One of the most powerful things to remember is

that you're the vessel and not the source. You know Marianne Williamson said once that

she is the faucet and God's the water. And Elizabeth Gilbert, the author of Eat, Pray

and Love, she has this great saying. She thinks that each of us have our own genius that comes

to visit us and inspires our creations. Now I know this one may seem a little woo-woo,

but it really works. It takes the pressure off so you don't have to do everything by

yourself. You're responsible to show up, be the vessel for the great work to come through

you.

So there you go Cecil, eight great strategies to help you write faster. I hope it helps

you and please come back and let us know how it goes. Now if you've got strategies on how

to write faster or you want to let me know what strategy from this video resonated with

you the most, I want to hear it and tell me about it in the comments below. Like this

video? Subscribe to my channel and share this with your friends. And if you want even more

great resources to grow your business and your life plus personal insights from me that

I just can't put in videos, come to marieforleo.com, sign up for email updates. I'd love to have

you on board! Thank you so much for watching and I'll catch you next time.

Marie: Hey! B-School is coming up. Want in? For more info and free training, go to joinBschool.com

Marie: Papa Smurf moment! Where did that come from?! That was dumb. Okay.